


live it like it's now or never

by TheSevenUmbrellas (RosyPages)



Series: Alive AU [2]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alex's parents - Freeform, Alive AU, Bonding, Family of Choice, First Kiss, Flirting, Fluff, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Living AU, Luke Reggie and Julie all come in later chapters, M/M, Mentions of homophobia, Road Trip, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:55:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27143476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RosyPages/pseuds/TheSevenUmbrellas
Summary: Willie and Alex meet at a party. Willie asks Alex if he'd like to drive two hours away to try the best pies in the world. Surprisingly, Alex agrees.That's where the trouble starts.Aka. Willie and Alex go on a road trip and everything goes wrong, so they're forced to call Alex's band to help them out.Living AU!Takes place after "I'll try for one morе night" and can be read as a stand-alone.
Relationships: Alex/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms)
Series: Alive AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1973302
Comments: 13
Kudos: 128





	live it like it's now or never

There are no good decisions made after midnight. Wasn’t that the real message of Gremlins? If there was one rule of the universe, it was that no good decisions were ever made after midnight. It was almost 1am when Alex met Willie.

Luke had dragged him and Reggie to a party after their gig to “mingle with up and coming bands.” Julie had somehow wriggled out of it. Probably with her charm and charisma and strict curfew. The traitor.

The thing about parties in the music scene, was there were always a lot of guys who could play guitar. They’d tell you all about how great their songs were, how amazing they could sing, how they were going to make it big one day. But the second Alex mentioned drums? He was answered with blank looks.

Every single time.

Sometimes they’d even try to argue with him. _“Why’d you want to be on drums, dude? Drummers never get the chicks_.”

He didn’t even know where to begin answering that one.

The party had taken the course these things usually did. Luke was talking to anyone who’d listen about their music. Reggie was striking out with every single girl there. And Alex had found a quiet corner to hunker down into until Luke announced it was time to go.

What wasn’t part of the script was the cute boy who approached him ten minutes later with a thermos in his hands. “Hey,” he said, like it was an absolutely normal thing to do to approach someone in the middle of a party and say-

Okay… but it wasn’t a normal thing for _Alex_ to be approached at parties.

“Hi?” Alex couldn’t stop the question from popping into his voice. His cheeks flushed. The boy was cute. Long dark hair had been hastily scraped up into an approximation of a ponytail, and he’d seemed to have thrown a vaguely formal purple jacket over his shorts and t-shirt. The obvious lack of effort would never have worked for most guys, but him? He carried it off with an easy smile.

“My name’s Willie.”

“Oh. Err… Alex. Hi.”

“You already said that.”

“Right,” Alex agreed with a nod. He had, in fact, already said that. Wonderful starts to the conversation. He half expected for the (cute) guy to retreat back into the crowd thanks to his awkwardness. Instead, he gestured to the empty spot besides him.

“Is this seat open?”

“Oh, sure. I mean yes, you can sit there. If that’s what you were asking. Or you can take the chair? Do you want the chair? I… just realized that you might want to take it. No one’s using it so you can go ahead and take it. If you want. I… I’m going to shut up now.” Alex closed his mouth with an audible snap. The flush to his cheeks had grown into a full-on fire blazing across his face.

Willie was laughing at him. “I’ll go ahead and sit,” he said as he lowered himself into the chair. “You’re wired a little tight, huh?” The question wasn’t asked with judgment, but it wasn’t pity or worry either. He got enough of that from his bandmates sometimes when they saw him silently losing it in big crowds or just before a performance. _You seem nervous_ they’d say in a voice too gentle like he was a bomb ready to go off. Their tone would always set Alex’s teeth on edge.

This wasn’t… _that_.

Alex threaded his fingers together. “That obvious?”

“Totally,” Willie laughed. It somehow didn’t sound insulting… that much.

“I don’t do great at parties,” he admitted.

“Isn’t this kind of _your_ party?”

“What?”

“I saw you on stage. You’re the man of the hour… or… _band_ of the hour?”

Alex almost choked. “Oh! No! No… I mean… No, this isn’t for us. We were just… there… and now we’re here. No one wants to talk to the drummer anyway. Drummers don’t pick up chicks apparently, from what I’ve been told.” The joke sounded flat even to Alex and he regretted it almost as soon as it came out of his mouth. What a stupid thing to say.

Willie looked him up and down. “And that’s something you’re worried about, huh?” he asked, lightly. “Chicks?”

Alex thought his face was going to burst into flames. “Not particularly, no.”

The boy flashed a grin. “You know, I always liked drummers the most.”

He didn’t know how long they talked. It felt like hours, but also somehow only felt like minutes. Willie was easy to talk to. He asked questions about everything, but they avoided all the awkward small talk Alex always dreaded when meeting new people. Instead he was asked how many bones he’d broken as a kid, what his favorite shape was and why, and his favorite conspiracy theory. It was when the topic turned to food that the trouble started.

“Okay,” Willie said, almost shouting over the blaring music, “best food I’ve ever had! Oh, I got it. There’s this place like two hours away. Tiny mom-and-pop shop. Like tiny, tiny. But bro, their pies. _Their pies_. The best thing I’ve ever tasted in my life. Sometimes when I’m stressed out or really craving it? I’ll take the drive just for those pies!”

Alex thought for the moment. “You know something? I don’t think I’ve ever eaten a pie before.”

If he’d told Willie he was a serial killer wanted in five states, he probably would’ve earned a less extreme reaction. The boy almost toppled from his seat as he leaned forward to stare Alex straight in the eyes. “Like? Any pie? Ever? Dude!”

“Yeah, I know.”

“How?”

He shrugged. “My parents never liked sweets when we were growing up. I guess I just never got the chance. Didn’t really think about it.” The awkwardness that settled over him was suffocating. Who’d never had pie before? Pie! But he was telling the truth. His parents had never been… well… they were set in their ways, and had their own ideas on how children should be raised. He didn’t think he’d had even a bite of a chocolate chip cookie until he was ten years old.

Willie stood up. He was smiling again. His eyes crinkled when he did. “We’re going.”

Alex was drawn out of his spiraling by sheer surprise. “What? Where?”

“That pie shop. You, my friend, are tasting your first pie ever! Tonight! The best pie in the world, in fact.” He glanced down at his watch. “Well… this morning.”

“You just said it was two hours away.”

“Yeah?”

“The busses aren’t running this time of night.”

“I can drive, dude.”

“You’ve been drinking.”

“Oh what? This?” Willie shook the thermos he’d been cupping in his hands. “Nah, it’s sweet tea.”

Alex blinked.

Willie gestured for him to take it. He reached out, their fingertips brushing gently. The plastic was still warm even after hours at the party. He hesitated before raising it to his lips and took a sip. Sure enough, he tasted tea. Tea with way too much milk and fifty percent sugar. But still, tea.

“You brought tea to a party?” Alex laughed.

“I always bring tea to a party! No one asks why you’re not drinking when you’ve got a thermos in your hand. They just assume you got some aesthetic going on.”

“I’ll have to remember that.” Alex had mostly gotten into he habit of nursing the same untouched glass for hours at parties. Tea sounded like a much better idea. “Are you sure about driving all that way though?”

“I drove all the way _through_ Death Valley to Malibu once at three in the morning before my parents could notice I’d snuck out over the weekend. It was awesome. I’ll tell you in the car. But compared to that? This is nothing.”

Alex was running out of excuses. And… he didn’t really want to think of any. He wanted to go with this (weird, cute) boy on a 2-hour mission for the best pie in the world. For once in his life there was no small voice in the back of his mind and the panic in his throat telling him he was about to make a major mistake.

He glanced around the room. Luke was still talking music to a disinterested crowd. Reggie was chatting to a girl who at least wasn’t rolling her eyes at him. They wouldn’t notice… right? He’d just tell them he left early. “I just have to be back by 7:00am, okay? Or Julie _will_ kill me for missing practice.”

Willie beamed. “You got it dude.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was born from a movie trailer I heard on the radio.  
> The characters were at a party and the dialogue was:  
> "Do you want to get out of here?"  
> "Where do you want to go?"  
> "I was thinking the Grand Canyon?"
> 
> And of course, it was actually the girl making fun of him for not picking up that she wanted to sleep with him. And they obv sleep together and it's "dramatic" and there's a lot of straight nonsense.
> 
> But I thought 'now that's a cute idea for a story!!'  
> Turns out the Grand Canyon is pretty far away from North Hollywood so I settled on pie.
> 
> Let me know what you think! PLEASE REVIEW


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